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Hello friends, If you didn't know, Tuesdays are not only dedicated to various points of interest among my hobbies but developing stories in technology, art, and design. Today's topic will revolve around Japanese currency. In a surprising turn of events, brand new designs for the one thousand, five thousand, and ten thousand bank notes have been annouced to start circulation in 2024. So, I thought "hey, maybe people don't know what Japanese currency looks like"; so here we are. For the sake of brevity, I will reserve the explanaition of the new bills until next Tuesday Current Designs Considering that most of my readers are unfamiliar with the current Japanese bank note designs, I will show and discuss the individuals on each note, whilst briefly explaining the design motifs adorning the reverse side in ascending order.  On the obverse side of each note is a portrait of a historical figure that has been recognized as being a major contributer to Japanese society. The person chosen for this honor on the 1000 yen note is Hideyo Noguchi. Noguchi was a prominent Bacteriologist in the early stages of the 20th century. His most famous contribution is his identification of the causative agent of syphilis (the bacteria Treponema pallidum) in the brain tissues of patients suffering from partial paralysis due to meningoencephalitis. However, his legacy his marred by many inanccurate medical findings and ethically questionable scientific practices in his latter years. The inaccurate findings in his medical research may actually be contributed to Noguchi's untreated contraction of syphilis in 1913, likely developing into neurosyphilis by 1928.  On the reverse side of the note is a decorative image of Mt. Fuji and Cherry Blossoms that was originally adapted from a photograph by Koyo Okada.  The front of the 5000 yen note features the Meiji era writer and poet, Ichiyo Higuchi. Though she died at a young age, Higuchi is highly regarded as one of Japan's first prominent writers of modern times. Famous for her fictional short stories, Higuchi is particularly noted for her classical Japanese prose derived from the Heian era. Due to the beautiful nature of her writing, many of her stories are not translated into contemporary Japanese. However, this purest mindset leaves alot of her writing inaccessible to modern Japanese people. On the flipside, her most famous stories have been adapted into movies; themes usually circulating around romance as well as the ambition and cruelty of the Meiji middle class. Unfortunately, Higuchi tragically died of tuberculosis at the age of 24.  The reverse side of the note depicts a section of the famed "Irsis Screen" by artist Korin Ogata.  Lastly, the 10000 yen note is the largest denomination of all the Japanese bank notes. The front features a portrait Yukichi Fukuzawa, a prominent author, writer, teacher, translator, entrepreneur, journalist, and leader who founded Keio University and the Institute of Study of Infectious Diseases. Though he was never appointed to any form of government position, Fukuzawa is largely regarded as one of modern Japan's founding fathers due to his advocacy for governement reform and ideas involving the structure of social institutions as a normal citizen during the Meiji period. Fukuzawa spent a great deal of time travelling on missions to the US and Europe as a translator on behalf of the Tokugawa shogunate, subsequently becoming well informed on all things western. This, no doubt, led to his progressive thinking on Japan's behalf to remain free of western Imperialism, instead using his knowledge to inform society about the benefits of adopting aspects of western society for the betterment of Japan's future. This even extended into the advocation of women's rights in most circumstances. However, Fukuzawa was not without his flaws as he was later criticized for his nationalist attitude for supporting the First Sino-Japanese War. Fundamentally, he believed in the independence of the people and nation, modeled after observations made in America and European societies.  The reverse side of the note features a drawing of the Hōō in the Hall of the Phoenix.
As I stated previously, I'm going to save our converstation of the new designs until next Tuesday. At that time I'll make a side-by-side comparison of the current and succeeding bank note designs. Hopefully, you guys learned some interesting things and are encouraged to do more research in the future. What do you think? I believe the United States Treasury announced some new currency designs last year. Is there someone you believe should be recognized on your nation's currency that isn't? Maybe someone that shouldn't? How often is currency redesigned in your country? Leave your thoughts in the comments below. As always, don't forget to like and share this post~ Until next time, Peace Whats up friends, Today is a repost of a topic that didnt get enough eyes on it the first time around. It also was located on a segregated portion of the website, floating between spaces just before I considered making a blog. Hopefully by migrating this post to the blog space, it gets the attention it deserves. Even if the topic is slightly dated, there is always time to talk about diversity and inclusion within the media. Enjoy! As a POC and an artist, I was very disappointed in the handling of Ms. Osaka’s image in the advertisement released by Nissin earlier this year. As you can clearly see in the reference board below, the end product of Osaka’s character was below satisfactory.  Therefore, I decided to create a turnaround sheet for Ms. Osaka that not only truly represented her as a character in the world established by Nissin and Takeshi Konomi (Prince of Tennis), but others with biracial identities that want to see themselves represented in society at large.  I think my small contribution to the resolution of this debacle is proof of the reassurance I can give Japanese studios as they walk a fine line toward more diverse and inclusive content when presenting to not only Japanese audiences, but the global one. As Japan’s presence in global media expands, brands such as Nissin will have to be more considerate of the type of content they attach their names to whether or not it is intended for domestic consumption.
What is your position on the representation of minorities in the media? Have you ever considered their portrayal within art and design? Leave your comments below and dont forget to like and share this post~ Until next time, Peace Wassup y’all, It’s time for a brief Toriaezu Tuesday. I was contemplating between several things to talk about until news broke about Google’s newest “game console” at GDC a few hours ago. That’s incredibly big news considering there hasn’t been a new console manufacturer since Microsoft entered the industry around 2001; effectively removing Sega’s viability to be competitive in the industry(to be fair, Sega had a lot of missteps leading into the new millennium though). First of all, what’s GDC? GDC stands for the “game developers conference”. It is a yearly conference held in San Francisco(and a few other places) intended to host a variety of round tables, lectures, tutorials and networking events for game developers.  The Google Stadia showroom at GDC What is Google’s newest console? It’s called “Stadia”, but I wouldn’t call it a console per say. It’s more of a streaming service in fact; similar to Netflix, but for games. That isn’t to say there is no hardware whatsoever. On the contrary, Google unveiled a wi-if enabled controller.  Should they choose, gamers aren’t limited to these controllers to utilize the service. Any USB enabled game pad will be usable at launch. Why would a controller need wi-fi? Well, that’s probably one of the neatest announcements from the conference. Since all the games are streamed from a cloud at Googles data centers, they can be accessed through the browser of most devices. Gamers won’t be limited to a tv or pc any longer, but tablets and cellphones are accessible as well. That means you would be able to pair the controller to any mentioned device and run the game remotely. I think that announcement was extremely impressive because it means that the technology running the games would be infinitely scalable. Developers would no longer be tied to the limitations of a specific consoles technical specifications. This also allows for cross-platform playing. For example, current owners of a PlayStation, Xbox, or Switch aren’t usually able to play co-operatively because of the individual technical specifications and security lockouts of each console. However, on the unified network offered through Googles data center, that is no longer an interesting issue. Except, there is one glaring problem. Internet speed Many parts of the United States, moreover the world, lack high speed fiber optic connection to the internet. Area lacking fiber may have access to data, but ISPs aren’t necessarily the most liberal in granting unlimited access to high volumes of people, especially if a game a transferring 7Gbs of data a minute. That sounds like a pipe dream tbh. But maybe Google has something up their sleeves. Since the service is slated to launch later this year, expect to hear more information around June at E3. In the meantime, check out the 5 minute highlight reel of the press conference below! Are you excited for a new player in the game industry? What do you think Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo’s response will be? What are your concerns with the “Stadia” platform? Leave your thoughts below and don’t forget to like and share~
 I went to see Mt. Fuji a few weeks ago; it was hella cold. Welcome friends and enemies,
Its Toriaezu Tuesday, so its time for me to talk about something to tide you over until WIP Wednesday. Last week, I spent time explaining to you all how I use Pinterest to collect fashion imagery to inform my character design process. This week, I`ve decided to outline my goals as an artist and possibly this blog. The scope will be much more macro in perspective than previous post. Anyway, lets get started... Mission Statement The goal of this blog is to curate social and creative content. Each post is intended to share a little bit of my unique perspective regarding life in Japan, art and design. For those that aren`t aware, my career goal has been to become the Art Director of my own studio. A studio in which we would create and publish content in a boutique fashion that catered to a niche audience. First of All, Whats an Art Director? The Art Director is solely responsible for supervising and unifying the development of ideas into accurate visual imagery that stimulates moods, contrasts features, and psychologically appeals to a target audience. Art Directors work in all sorts of industries ranging from Fashion, Games, Movies, Film, Television, Advertising, Marketing, etc. Of course, It isnt immediately clear to me how I would accomplish this but doing something is better than nothing-hence the start of this blog. How does blogging connect to the Art Director goal? Gotta start somewhere right? Besides, if you know anything about me, you`d at least be aware that my guiding interest are focused in two areas; Art and Japanese. I have met some really cool people within this clique, so I think its a uniqe audience that I can share a lot with. By curating the type of content Im interested in, I can bring a level of quality that reinforces my brand. This blog is simply a marketing tool. Over the past few months I’ve been noticing that the only way to get work is to make work; and so, here we are. How do you intend to show this? If you`ve not noticed already, I have a time table of varying content releasing on a daily basis(M-F).
*The Word of the Day is just a fun look at the language and culture of Japan. Whats next? Granted everything proceeds smoothly over the coming months, I will continue expanding my portfolio and take more comissions. I do work freelance, so you are welcome to hire me for design work! Your stuff just might show up in WIP Wednesday post! I think I will conclude the post here for now. What do you guys think I should work on? What would you like to see or know about? Leave your comments below and share the blog on social media. Until next time, Peace Wassup guys! Its Tuesday, so that means another all new post for you to get excited for! I’m calling this one “Toriaezu Tuesday”. とりあえず means “for now/for the time being”. I chose it because I didn’t know what to title this post. So, for the time being...とりあえず. Genius, I know. Anyway, today’s topic is Pinterest. What is Pinterest? Pinterest is an app that allows you to curate images based on your interest. Why use Pinterest? I don’t think the general public realizes how much research artist must do before even setting pen to paper. In fact, I would say 70% of an artists’ work should be researching, evaluating, and critiquing other art to ensure your own hits all the right marks, and improves on what others lacked. Therefore, I think it is ideal to spend a bit of time each day to collect material. I’ve had a Pinterest for at least 5 years, but it wasn’t until last week that I implemented a more regulated schedule. I have dedicated each day to specific theme but today’s post will focus on fashion. How does fashion factor into your art? Some of you may be aware of my retail work experience. An accumulative 6 years at a department and thrift store during my college career. Though these positions definitely influenced my personal fashion choice, they had a deeper impact on my character design choices. The images I have collected this week are from many different cultures and styles, I have chosen to stick to contemporary styles for potential future projects. However, I think a bit of consideration in the following questions may help diversify your character design choices.
Also, depending on the intended use, you will likely have to be aware of other jobs in the pipeline process. That means having a design considerate of the modelers, animators, texture artist, etc. and most importantly, how much time, money, or resources it may cost to execute There is a whole list of questions I acknowledge when designing and I’m sure I could deliver some more thoughtful ideas in the future. If you’d like to hear more, leave a comment below and Ill drop some knowledge next Tuesday! You can visit my Pinterest boards here. Do you think you can identify where each garment comes from?  |
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